Thermal Degradation Studies on Polyaniline-Polypyrrole Copolymers Prepared by Microemulsion Methods

Solvent- and water-based microemulsions of aniline and pyrrole copolymers were synthesized, and the thermal degradation properties of the copolymers were studied. The morphology of the copolymers prepared using solvent-based microemulsions containing 80 % aniline in the feed showed highly oriented, crystalline, ordered long nano-fibers which were even more structured than that of pure aniline prepared by the same method. The influence of the degree of crystallinity calculated from X-ray diffraction and morphology had an overlap with thermal degradation and activation energies of different transitions. Copolymers prepared with water-based microemulsions were thermally less stable than the ones prepared using solvent-based microemulsions. The concentration of pyrrole and aniline mutually influenced the thermal properties of the copolymers.